I read an intriguingly funny article tonight. The reason it's so funny is that it's very applicable to me at the moment. My brother and I have been burning firewood for heat this winter in Portland, Oregon. We've actually obtained our fire wood from many different Craigslist advertisements, such as the one featured in this article's screen shot, and we have made some extra income selling our surpluses to people who are either in need of heat or just want the ambiance provided by a nice warm fire.
Seasoned wood does not in fact refer to seasoning the wood with pepper and salt and Italian spices although the idea does create some interesting mental pictures. For those who don't know, seasoned wood is wood that has been aged and naturally dried so that it will burn well. In order to be seasoned, most firewood must be aged for at least 1 to 2 years.
Although seasoned wood isn't seasoned in terms of teeming with lemon-pepper or garlic and oregano, burning the many different kinds of wood does indeed produce a plethora of different uniquely enticing and delicious smells. Black walnut is perhaps my favorite. Sit a piece in front of your fireplace just inches from the transfer of potential to kinetic energy. Watch the blue flames emanating from a few well-seasoned, dry chunks of maple as the walnut slowly heats up. After awhile, it smells like freshly baked bread and makes you want to go break out the Country Crock and dig in. We did that one night and the wood smelled so good I felt I could almost take a bite out of it!
With a fireplace, who needs Dish Network. It's all the entertainment I need.
